winter lingers

Spring Equinox ’14

just this week ice again covered the trees,

and cold drizzle painted itself over everything,

all under skies a sodden grey,

in the last days of this winter

daffodils have tried to herald spring

and have been pulled down by coats of new ice,

and across the land ice-felled pine branches litter the ground,

today the sun crosses the Equator

for its six months of rising above the northern hemisphere,

winter has been more with us here in the South than usual,

and still is as it denies anticipatory hope:

the sugar snap peas and lettuce, planted in the garden,

have not sprouted high and sure yet,

the maple has released its buds into subdued flowers,

almost black-and-white instead of a rosy glow,

the sun, after an early morning of partial clouds,

crosses bright blue sky through the day,

and now sinks into the west with more clarity than color,

daffodils have recovered and are magnificent,

iris are as tentative and bold as a teenager,

today the needs of school and home

keep pulling me away 

from the grand story sun and earth work on,

I would write more,

but it’s time for supper.

by Henry H. Walker

March 20, ’14